Obasanjo’s attacks on Buhari, NASS

SIR: There is no need for unnecessary phantasm; former President Olusegun Obasanjao was right in his attack on this administration, especially the National Assembly. His problem is that he excused his own tour of duty which is partly to be blamed for the mess we are in; moreover, he didn’t proffer solutions on how to turn the economy around with our reserve and he never mentioned the importance of grooming political leaders for elective offices.

It was Yakubu Mohammed, National Concord, Monday, April 25, 1983 who said, “I am not suggesting that nobody has the right to disagree with anybody. Without disagreement, life itself will be a monumental bore. But no sane person should carry disagreement to an extent where it is ever difficult to reconcile.”

Leaders fail to win for Nigeria consensus, which is needed to inspire the pride of citizens for national interest. There are only a handful of politicians with conviction.

Nigeria’s national political path is stormy. Present days have seen it risen to a barbarous plateau.

Administrators must rise to the occasion and steer our polity to life. They must steer, not row. It is easier to steer than to row. Rowing requires too much muscle power. Steering requires a sense of humanity, vision and purpose.

A people cannot steer without the power of conviction. A nation cannot move forward if men continually row without synergy. Without the power of conviction, men become enslaved mercenaries. People who stand at attention in a servile salute do not encourage each other, aren’t free people and find it hard to contend for liberty on their own terms.

For a leader, there is nothing more important than the quality of your impact on others and on your country.

According to Eleanor Roosevelt, “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it and it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

The polity is undeveloped across board because differences aren’t tolerated and are most times eliminated by violence even when we are all “perfectly imperfect.”

* Youngsters on whose shoulders the future lie do not see politics as a noble profession. Youth need to see themselves as equal members of society and that democratic contest is a sport, an avenue for healthy debates necessary for developmental growth. This would give them hope and shows them that genuine statesmen and women are not bigots.,

Our future wouldn’t be complete if projects are abandoned, treasures emptied at the expiration of tours of duty especially when the opposite party wins an election and wars fought only on party basis. Nigeria’s future will remain uncertain if we fraternally blame all our ills on “those people” without introspection on ourselves and how we have failed humanity.

Our leaders do not have the capacity to steer polity to health; all they do is rather to perennially row.